


It Looks Good on You

by SiriuslyQueer



Series: Coast-to-Coast inspired fics (character credit Lumosinlove) [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Male Character, Coast to Coast, Drinking, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gay Male Character, Hockey, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Queer Themes, Sweater weather, Underage Drinking, coast to coast fanfic, lumosinlove, oknutzy, sweather weather fanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26126665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SiriuslyQueer/pseuds/SiriuslyQueer
Summary: This is of course another O'Knutzy fic based on the characters and stories from Sweater Weather and Coast-to-Coast by the incredibly talented Lumosinlove.This fic takes place before the boys are out to each other, just as Finn starts dating June, and a few weeks after the events of my fic Butterfly.Finn has a date. Leo and Logan hit the bar with Kuny and Nado. Logan gets buzzed. Leo gets drunk. Dancing and jealousy and some unexpected bonding ensues. Clothing is exchanged. Featuring mutual pining and a lot of humor and a little angst (because you know I can't help it). Enjoy!
Relationships: Logan Tremblay/Leo Knut
Series: Coast-to-Coast inspired fics (character credit Lumosinlove) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089896
Comments: 15
Kudos: 137





	It Looks Good on You

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Coast To Coast](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24150220) by [lumosinlove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumosinlove/pseuds/lumosinlove). 



“Dude, behind you. Behind you!” Leo shouts, hammering the buttons on his own controller as Logan’s avatar barely ducks away from a zombie onscreen.

“Ahaha, gotcha zombie fucker.” Logan leans forward over his knees, shifting toward Leo a little on the couch as their characters take out the last of the growling undead in the game’s dimly lit warehouse. They’re picking up dropped items from the cleared level when Leo’s phone dings in his pocket at the same time as Logan’s buzzes against the coffee table and he hears Finn’s text alert ping from the kitchen.

“Eh who’s that?” Logan calls over his shoulder without looking away from the screen as he and Leo make their way out of the warehouse.

“Nado,” Finn calls from somewhere past the stepped-down partition between the kitchen and the living room. “Him and Kuny are trying to go to the bar later.”

Leo smirks. Nado and Kuny have been trying to get him out drinking with them since before the start of the season, despite the fact that he 1) is underage, and 2) doesn’t drink, and has no intention of starting now and jeopardizing his shot in the NHL.

Their phones all chime twice more in unison and Logan laughs.

“What’s he want?”

“Pause and look yourself,” Finn calls. Leo hears the fridge clink shut as Logan huffs next to him, punching a button on his controller.

“You could just tell me,” he calls over his shoulder, tossing his controller on the couch and snagging his phone off the table. Leo sets down his own controller and digs his phone from his pocket. He’s just opening the group text as Finn wanders into the living room with a Dr. Pepper in his hand.

“You have a date tonight?” Logan blurts out. Finn pauses halfway into one of the squashy leather chairs before sitting down.

“Yeah.” He takes a sip of his drink without looking at them.

Leo looks down at his phone. There’s the message from Nado, saying they’re thinking Slugs around ten, then one from Kuny with a picture of Nado posed in the locker room with the fishnets on, promising a good time. Then below that, Finn’s reply.

_nah sorry boys hot date 2nite_

His phone dings in his hand with a reply from Nado, but Leo sets it down without looking, pinching his bottom lip between his teeth.

“With June?”

Finn’s gone out with her a couple times. That was before last week though, when they—

Except _they_ didn’t do anything. Leo walked in on Finn, ran and locked himself in his room and had one of the strongest orgasms of his life, and then they got up the next day for morning skate and acted like nothing happened. If anything, Leo owes Finn an apology.

“Who the hell is June?” Logan says.

Leo whips his head up.

They’re best bros. Fuck, Leo’s seen them share _underwear_. Why wouldn’t Finn have told Tremz about his new girlfriend?

Finn shrugs again. “She’s a mechanic over at that auto shop on 35th and Montreat.”

“Do you like her?” Logan asks. There’s a stiff edge to his words he doesn’t quite manage to smooth out. 

Finn hesitates before he looks Logan in the eye. “Yeah, I do.”

Leo’s wondered about Finn and Logan since he started with the Lions. But he’s only ever caught little wisps of it before, smoke trails compared to this thick grey smoldering as neither looks away and he’s caught in the middle, burning. 

Because what does a moth do when it’s drawn to two flames at once, and in opposite directions?

Leo clears his throat. 

“Well hey, that’s great man,” he hears himself say. 

“Thanks.” Finn smiles, but there’s something off about it, like a painting of a sunset instead of the real thing. “I should probably go change...m’supposed to pick her up at eight.”

And then Finn’s walking away with his soda, his door clicking shut behind him.

Leo’s mind jumps to the last time he opened it, to Finn with his head thrown back, Leo’s name breathless on his lips.

But no matter what Finn might or might not want behind that door, out in the world he’s with June. And even if Leo’s right, even if he could want to be with a man, he already knows that man would be Logan. He can see it whenever they all hang together, the shared history he can never compete with and shouldn’t try. 

Logan picks up his controller again, fiddling with the joystick without unpausing the game.

And maybe Leo’s wrong about them. But watching Logan stare at the dead weight of the controller in his hands, green eyes dim and unfocused, Leo thinks he recognizes a familiar thrumming of want.

Just thinking that Finn will never choose him over June or Logan makes Leo want to crawl into bed with a book for the rest of the night, but looking at Logan across the couch he can’t shrug off the yearning he’s felt since that night on the bus, that magnetic tug to ease whatever burden he’s carrying, just for a little while. 

Leo sighs and fishes his phone from where it’s sliding between the couch cushions, shaking his head at what he’s about to do. Typing out a quick message he’s sure he’ll regret in a few hours, he takes a breath and hits send.

Logan’s phone buzzes twice on the couch in quick succession and he rolls his eyes.

“Fucking Nado,” he mumbles without picking it up.

Leo stands up and groans as he stretches his back, hoping he looks nonchalant.

“Hey, do you have a shirt with you in your bag?”

Logan raises an eyebrow at him and thumbs the hem of his t-shirt. “I’m wearing a shirt?”

Leo shakes his head, a nervous smile creeping onto his face. This could be the best idea he’s ever had, or the worst.

“Check your texts. You need a better shirt if we’re going out.”

***

When they climb out of the Uber in front of Slugs Tavern, all the reasons Leo doesn’t go to bars jump out at once. The fenced patio on the side of the low-slung brick building is already packed with bodies and drunk cackling laughter. When the bouncer at the door opens it for two girls in short denim skirts he hears a blast of thumping music and a hundred conversations all at once. 

He swallows and stuffs his hands in the pockets of his slim dark jeans. Nado said Slugs is pretty chill and should take his fake ID no problem, but his stomach still squirms as he and Logan head for the door. What if the bouncer recognizes him as a rookie from the promo posters around town? 

He feels a hand squeeze his bicep and looks to find Logan smiling beside him, like he’s read his mind. 

“All good Knut?” he says, more reassurance than question. 

“Yeah,” Leo exhales. “Yeah. Let’s go find Nado and Kuny, eh?” He puts an awful Canadian accent on the _eh_ , and Logan rolls his eyes, grinning. Leo rubs a hand over the back of his neck, biting back a smile. Maybe tonight won’t be so bad. 

Once inside, they spot Kuny’s hulking frame at a high-top table along the wall. Or rather, Kuny and Nado surrounded a group of several girls. Leo feels his neck flush as he weaves behind Logan through the crowd. 

Picking up girls is part of the whole “going to bars” deal. He knew that when he suggested coming out, and he needs to at least pretend to be interested. But he also hates the idea of leading someone on, which is part of why he avoids the bar scene in the first damn place.

“Knut, Tremz!” Kuny bellows, leaning out to wrap him in an aggressive one-armed hug. Nado claps both of their hands and thumps their shoulders as he and Kuny and the girls squeeze to make more standing room around the table. 

“Man, I can’t believe we finally got Knutty to come out,” Nado says over the din of music and voices around them, shooting Leo a wicked grin over his beer. “What’re you drinking?” 

“Oh, um,” Leo blinks, panicked for a second by Nado’s phrasing. “That’s ok, I don’t really—” 

“Knut’s one of our rookies,” Nado says conspiratorially to the girls, who smile in reply. “Still needs to learn how to loosen up a little.” 

A pretty brunette with a golden tan above her blue tube top leans toward him across the table. Leo’s ears heat. What has he gotten himself into?

No, it’ll be fine. If he can hang close to Logan, he’ll be able to—

But when he turns Logan’s already slid over between two of the girls, leaning to say something in the ear of a platinum blonde in a pink lacy dress that Leo can see is cut most of the way up her thigh. She laughs as Logan grins and leans a little closer.

Leo chews at a chapped spot on his lip. He knew Tremz might pick up a girl tonight. Hell, that’s why Leo made him come out, right? To help distract him? 

“Hmm?” he says when he hears his name.

“I said, what you want to drink?” Kuny repeats in his thick Russian accent. “We’re here to have good time. Let me buy your drink.” 

“Oh, um...” Leo says. He really wasn’t planning to drink—he’d only thought as far as getting Logan out of the house and getting them both thinking about something besides Finn’s date. But now, glancing at Logan leaning to whisper in the blonde girl’s ear, one drink doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. 

“I don’t really know,” he says, looking across to blue-tube-top and pasting on a smile he hopes passes for flirty. “What do you think I’d like?” 

She purses her lips and pretends to appraise him as Kuny waves a waitress over.

“Something with bourbon,” he adds, since it’s the only thing he’s really tried back home. 

“Whiskey ginger,” she tells the waitress without taking her eyes off Leo. “And another whiskey sour for me please.”

As the waitress takes the rest of their orders and walks away, she leans her forearms on the table, smiling at him. 

“You can try mine and see if you like it.” 

“I’m sure I will,” he says, propping an elbow on the table so he can lean closer too. He’s feeling more awkward by the second, but he must be doing something right because she’s still smiling at him as inane conversation flows back and forth across the table between them.

“What’s your name?” he tries, and she leans in further. 

“Tamara,” she says over the music just as the waitress returns with their drinks. (Which seems fast, but then again, the staff probably know Nado and Kuny on a first-name basis.) 

“Leo.” He takes his drink with a nod of thanks and clinks his glass to hers. It’s spicy and sweet with a hint of the smoky bourbon that warms its way down his throat. He’s surprised how much he likes it. 

“What do you think?” Tamara asks. 

Leo glances at Logan again, who’s trailing his fingers across the blonde girl’s shoulders as he passes her a drink. 

“I think it’s just what I need right now.”

***

Logan downs the dregs of his rum and coke and sets the glass on the bar. Lauren, the cute blonde he’s been chatting with all night, went to the bathroom a while ago and hasn’t tried to find him again. He could go look for her out on the patio, but it’s probably just as well. Though he’s not exactly proud of it, he’s mostly been flirting with her for something to do.

When he first came to the Lions Finn more or less asked him: Could they be something? And Logan said no. So Finn can go out with whoever he wants. They both can. It’s not like there’s room in who they are for anything else, at least not while they’re in the league.

Logan flags the bartender for another drink and turns to lean back against the bar.

There’s some girls gathered over by the pool tables watching a game, but they look kind of young (honestly Slugs will let anyone in, it’s ridiculous). Nado’s nowhere in sight, but he picks out Kuny’s deep, wide-grinned laugh from a group over by the touch screen jukebox beside the bar. It looks like Kuny and a few girls and—Christ, is that _Leo_ in the middle of it all, picking most of the songs while a girl in a blue tube top leans in with her hands around his waist? 

He throws back his head in a fit of laughter, bringing a hand up to cover his smile as the girl practically falls into him, and Logan’s chest clenches.

He figured Leo would loosen up a little after a drink or two, but since when does he have girls hanging all over him?

Not that Logan didn’t think he could get a girl if he wanted. Leo’s an attractive guy—legs for fucking _miles_ in those jeans. And that dimpled smile—at least, he guesses girls would be into that.

The bartender sets his rum and coke down on the bar and Logan gulps down a third of it in one go.

The rum fizzles in his brain and warms him out through his arms. Before he realizes what’s happening his feet have carried him across to the jukebox. He tries to catch Leo’s eye as he walks up, but Kuny spots him first.

“Tremz,” he says in his slightly slurred baritone as he extends a fist for Logan to pound, then looks around behind him. “Where is girl?”

Logan shrugs and takes another sip of his drink.

“That’s okay, you come with us,” Kuny says, making room so Logan can see what’s happening on the touch screen. “Knut likes crazy music. Want to dance.”

At the sound of his name Leo turns from the jukebox screen, that intoxicating smile lighting up his whole face when he spots Logan.

“Tremz!” Leo shouts, stepping through the group to throw his arms around Logan. 

A jittery warmth floods Logan’s senses as he staggers to take Leo’s weight.

“Knut,” he laughs, imitating Leo’s twanging accent, which sounds like it’s gotten thicker since he started drinking. _Cute_ is the word that pops into Logan’s head, and he hopes it’s too dim in the bar for anyone to see the blush heating his neck. 

He does his best to help Leo stand upright with both of them still laughing and turns to look at Kuny.

“How much has he had?”

“Right amount, I think.” Kuny says matter-of-factly, leaning an elbow on the wall with a grin.

Once Leo’s standing on his own again the girl in the blue tube top slithers back to his side. Logan tightens his grip on his drink.

“Who’s this?” he hears himself asking, his voice flat.

“Oh,” Leo grins, oblivious as he turns to the girls around them. “Tamara, Jocelyn, Aliya, this is Logan Tremblay.”

The girl named Tamara steps forward and extends a hand toward him with a smile, one arm still around Leo’s waist. Logan glances down at her hand but doesn’t take it.

“Hi.”

Tamara blinks at him, her smile slipping, but Leo doesn’t seem to notice.

“You have to come dance with us,” he says to Logan, resting a palm heavy on his shoulder. “Some of the songs we picked—” Leo dissolved into renewed giggles, leaning harder into him. Every place their bodies touch prickles, and Logan leans in too.

Because they’re friends. Because they’ve both been drinking. Because suddenly under Leo’s hands is the only place he wants to be.

The song that’s been thumping the air fades into a pounding, grinding guitar, and the girl called Tamara steps into their space to take Leo’s hand with a smile.

“Ready to show me those moves?”

If she was a guy Logan would have shoved her.

“Excuse you,” he says. “We were talking.”

Leo blinks at him, eyebrows raised. Tamara narrows her eyes.

“And _we_ were dancing,” she says, leading Leo out into the open area near the back of the bar serving as a dance floor.

Logan watches them go, swallowing against the jagged jealousy rising in his throat, until a thick hulk of floral-shirt-clad Russian steps into his line of sight.

“чувак, не будь членом.”

“What?” Logan says, glaring up at Kuny. (No wonder Finn hates it when they speak French.)

“You try to cockblock Knutty, is what. You don’t want him to dance with girl?”

“No. Wait—I mean—” Logan takes a swig of his drink and tries again. “He can dance with whoever he wants. Fuck, he can take her home. I don’t care.”

Kuny stares at him, head cocked to the side a little, and Logan’s skin starts to crawl. He tosses back the rest of his drink and stalks back toward the bar for another.

Leo can pick up whoever he wants. But that doesn’t mean he has to stand here and watch.

***

Logan leans back against the wall over by the bathrooms and stares down into his fourth rum and coke, the ice melting into clear film on top of the mostly untouched drink. He checks his phone again. Just past midnight. The bar’s in full swing around him, garbled laughter and half-shouted conversations mingled with the smell of stale beer and perfume sweat and sticky spilled drinks that shuck against the bottoms of his shoes.

He’s been contemplating calling himself an Uber for the past twenty minutes. The music’s giving him a headache and the high of being out has worn off, but for some reason he can’t make himself leave Knut. Which is stupid. Kuny and Nado are around here somewhere, and he knows for all the shit they talk they wouldn’t let anything happen to Leo. And besides, he’s got _Tamara_ , who seems more than intent on taking him home.

Logan sighs and swirls his drink with the little black cocktail straw. Will Finn and June be at the apartment when he takes Leo back ( _if_ he takes Leo back), or will they have gone to June’s place? He’s debating which will gouge a bigger hole in his chest when a hand thumps his back.

“Dude, who died?” Nado laughs, leaning on the wall next him. His lips are red and his shaggy hair’s mussed, like someone’s been running their fingers through it. Logan raises an eyebrow.

“You look like you’ve been having enough fun for both of us.”

Nado laughs as he wipes his lips with his hand, presumably for stray lipstick.

“Nah just a quick make-out between friends.”

Logan stares at him, face deadpan. 

Nado snorts. “What’s up your ass?”

Logan swallows and looks back down at his drink. Nado doesn’t probe further, though, and when Logan glances over he’s on his phone, texting. A reply pings through, and Nado rolls his eyes.

“S’up?” Logan smirks, nodding at Nado’s phone.

“Fucking Kuny,” is all he says. “Come on.”

“Where?” Logan looks over his shoulder. It wouldn’t be the first time Nado’s fucked with him out drinking.

“To find a dense Russian. Come on.” 

Logan tries to argue, but Nado’s already winding his way through the crowd. They swing past the bar, Nado peering over the sea of heads. He must not see what he’s looking for, though, because he turns with a huff toward the back. Abandoning his watery drink on the bar, Logan rolls his eyes and follows.

The area by the dance floor is hotter and humid with breath. Logan trails Nado through the press of bodies, for once a little grateful he’s not Kuny or Cap’s size.

The air tastes like sweat and residual cologne and he’s about to tell Nado that he’s just going to head out when they finally push to the front of the crowd and Logan stops in his tracks.

Leo’s in the middle of the dancers, all height and long limbs everywhere, but somehow it works as he bumps and turns to the rhythm, throwing his head back in the most unselfconscious laugh Logan’s ever seen from him in public. He twirls two girls at once, then hunches so one of them can attempt to spin him, only to dissolve into another fit of laughter halfway through the turn.

And Logan’s grinning like an idiot, can feel that he is, but how can he not when Leo snags big hulking Kuny from where he’s bobbing his head to the beat and pulls him into an attempt at some strange salsa dip. Kuny’s deep laugh barrels over the music as a couple people film them with their phones. 

Kuny straightens up and gives Leo a friendly shove back toward the girls. Tamara Tube Top brushes her hair back from her face and reaches to take his hand, and Logan’s stomach twists. 

Leo spins toward them. His eyes land on Nado first but dart straight to Logan, his high cheeks flushed with dancing and booze. Logan’s breath catches in his throat when Leo breaks away from his group and weaves toward him.

“Tremz!” he says, throwing an arm around his shoulders and swaying them both. Logan steps back to steady them.

“Whoa, hey bud,” he laughs. “You feeling good?”

“I’m great.” Leo leans in so their faces are inches apart. “And you,” he says, poking Logan in the chest. “Have to come dance.” 

Leo hooks a finger between the buttons of Logan’s shirt and tugs him forward. _Mon dieu_. A dizzy heat buzzes from his head to his groin and back. Leo starts walking backward, Logan’s shirt bunched in his fist, and Logan feels himself stir in his pants.

“No, no way,” he tries to laugh, grabbing Leo’s wrist. 

Leo’s pale eyes dart all over his face, catching the shifting colored lights above the dance floor. Logan blinks. The rum he’s drunk flutters warm in his head and his eyes flick down to Leo’s mouth.

Leo’s lips quiver, like he’s trying to keep from smiling. Logan barely has time to narrow his eyes before Leo thrusts out a hand and whips his hat off his head.

He makes a grab for it but Leo’s too fast, already tugging it backwards onto his own head.

“Come on, man,” he laughs, snatching for it, but Leo takes a step back out of his reach, flashing that gorgeous, mischievous grin.

Logan’s neck heats because that’s Leo. Wearing his Lions snapback. And he has no idea why that’s so hot. Not that it’s _hot_ , exactly, just— _merde_.

“If you want it, come get it,” Leo says, pitching his voice low so only Logan can hear him in the crowd. His dick throbs again, already half hard, and he’s thanking whatever god might exist that he decided on his relaxed fit jeans.

Leo must not notice that Logan’s completely unraveling, because he just bobs his head to the beat and starts backing away into the dancers in a kind of failed moonwalk, wiggling his eyebrows and looking so absurd Logan can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of him. 

Leo crooks a finger at him and some of the people standing nearby laugh, including Kuny, who grins and shoves him on the shoulder. Logan stutter-steps toward Leo to catch his balance and a few people cheer. 

The song fades and swells into a crowd pumping anthem. Everyone around them starts jumping and cheering and they go from the center of attention to just another two people flowing in a sea of youth and movement. 

Logan feels naked without his snapback and runs a hand back through his hair. Leo’s there in front of him, swaying his shoulders in time with the song, tall and flush-faced and perfect. He steps closer and brushes Logan’s fingertips with his. Maybe by accident. He doesn’t know. 

What he does know is he wants to take Leo’s hand so badly he feels it like a static shock. But there’s people all around them and someone’s probably still fucking filming. 

“Danse avec moi,” Leo says, leaning toward Logan a little so he doesn’t have to shout over the music. 

Logan looks up at him, pleading. _Dance with Tamara. Go home with her. Do the things we’re supposed to do and stop making me wish it could be different._

Leo stares back, chewing his lip like he’s deciding something. Then without any warning he grabs Logan’s hand and twirls him around. 

The spin throws Logan off balance but Leo grips his hand to steady him. He staggers out of it and makes another grab for his hat, but Leo straightens up so he can’t reach.

“Non,” he says, brow furrowed in mock seriousness as his eyes glint with mischief. “Tu dois _danser_.” 

Logan rolls his eyes. He does his best to look annoyed, but watching Leo exaggerate his bumping and dipping hips what can he do but laugh and join him?

***

God Logan is _hot_. Tan and muscles and his hair fluffing up without the hat that _Leo is still wearing._

He’s wearing Logan’s hat.

This is fun. He didn’t think it would be but it is. 

Why does it take so much for them to let go with each other the way they’re letting go now, laughing and spinning and spinning, or is it the room spinning and they’re standing still? 

They bump and move around each other in a silly bob and weave and Leo’s laughing so hard his stomach aches. God why haven’t they laughed like this before? Why is it always so fucking hard? 

He pulls Logan into the same dip he tried on Kuny but Logan tilts too far to the side, or maybe he does or maybe they both do, but it’s worth it because Logan laughs and hugs an arm around his waist to keep them from crashing to the floor. 

And his skin is hot where it slips up under the hem of Leo’s shirt. And fuck he’s sweaty from dancing but Logan must not care because he doesn’t pull back even as the thumping beat fades into a silky ballad, slinking and slow, and the people around them start to sway and they’re left standing and not laughing anymore. So close Leo can see that one spot at the front where Logan’s hair curls a different direction from the rest. So close Leo could lean down and brush their lips together if he wanted.

And he _does_ want. He wants and there’s good reasons he shouldn’t but he can’t remember what they are. 

Logan’s staring up at him and he’s staring back and Logan’s eyes dart down to his throat when he swallows and Logan licks his lips and he’s going to do it. He’s going to kiss Logan Tremblay.

He takes a breath and sways on his feet, but there’s Logan’s arm to lean against, solid and warm. He’s going to do it. He looks down into Logan’s green eyes (god how are they so green even in this shit light?) and Logan’s looking back, and maybe he’s afraid and maybe Leo is too but he doesn’t care.

But then there’s a hand on his wrist that’s not Logan’s—it’s too soft and clammy and insistent—and he brushes it off because can’t they see _he’s going to do it_? Except the hand comes back and he turns and it’s Tamara with her sweet smile but can’t she _see_? 

Logan’s arm is gone. Logan’s arm is gone and Tamara’s leading him along and Leo sways, dizzy like he’s lost an anchor. He turns and Logan’s looking at him the same way he looked at Finn when Finn said June’s name. 

Finn’s on a date and Logan’s walking away. Leo’s dizzy and there’s too many people. Logan’s walking away and it’s hot. His stomach roils and the music’s too loud and Tamara’s holding his hand and Logan’s walking away. 

***

The patio’s emptied a little by the time Logan shoves through the side door and stomps out onto the crunching pea gravel. The night’s clouded over since they arrived, a fine mist not so much falling as suspended in the air around him, settling on his hair like dew on grass. Smokers loiter in clusters around the spindly patio high-tops, but there’s plenty of room now for Logan to stride to the back corner when the iron fence meets the building without anyone so much as glancing his way. 

He flops his shoulders back against the cool bricks and blows out a breath into the heavy air. 

What the fuck was he thinking?

Just look at him and Finn—he gave in twice, and now, after four years, he still can’t look at Finn without their last night together at Harvard in the back of his mind. 

Hell, Finn can’t even go on a date without him freaking out. 

Lacing his fingers behind his neck, Logan tilts his head back. The fog is so thick now he can’t tell where it ends and the clouds begin. The streetlights nearby refract ghostly orange up into the grey. 

They have a roadie in two days. Trying not to watch Finn strutting naked around the locker room is hard enough. How is he supposed to share a hotel room with Leo when he can still feel his skin hot and slick with sweat, that dip where his back muscles meet— _merde. Merde merde merde_. 

The door to the patio clangs open, and Logan jumps. Pea gravel scatters as someone comes barreling out, their shoes crunching it as they stumble.

Leo spreads his arms and legs wide like a baby giraffe trying to find its balance for the first time. A few people around the tables chuckle, and a protective anger sears up Logan’s sternum as he pushes up off the wall. Any other night he might have doubled over wheezing at bandy-legged, drunk Leo, but right now he feels more like laying out the next person who so much as snickers his direction.

Leo manages to get his feet under him, though, and whips his head up just as Logan reaches him. 

“Logan,” he says too loudly, grabbing him by the arms with both hands like he’s afraid Logan might disappear if he doesn’t hold on.

Logan blinks. Leo nearly always calls him Tremz. He glances up at his snapback, still snug on Leo’s head.

“I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have—and then the _song_ —” Leo slurs his words in his rush to blurt out an unintelligible apology for…what exactly?

“Whoa, slow down,” Logan says. A small part of him wants Leo to feel bad, the hurt and jealousy he knows aren’t justified still hot and tight under his skin. But one look in Leo’s eyes, big and blue and brimming with worry even as drunk as he is, and all he can do is sigh and scrub a hand hard through his hair. Fuck. 

Taking Leo’s arm, he looks around over his shoulder and steers them away from the cloying glances around the patio tables, back toward his corner in the shadows. 

“What’s up?” he says, hesitating before he lets his hand fall.

“ ‘m sorry,” Leo says, his drunken accent melting the words together. “I shouldn’t have made you dance. You didn’t want to, and I know how it could look with…with me—”

Leo bites his lip, face contorted like the words might make him sick.

And there’s something there. Logan can see it plainly for the first time—the huge vital _something_ that Leo’s not telling him lodged between them like a stone.

“Don’t be. It’s not—I just needed some air.”

It’s a lie. He knows it and so does Leo, who huffs and crosses his arms against the damp mist falling around them.

“Where’s Tamara?”

Leo steps back like he’s slapped him.

But why is he even out here when he has a date waiting inside? Why is he doing this, running out into the shitty weather like next to Logan is the only place he wants to be, making Logan want things neither of them can want?

“I don’t know,” Leo says, scuffing a toe across the slicked gravel between them. “Probably dancing.”

“Well you should go find her,” Logan says in his best bro voice. “You definitely have a shot with her.”

Leo shrugs without looking up, which somehow only makes Logan want to shove him, hard.

“Dude she’s been hanging off you all night. It’s an easy hook up.”

Leo snaps his head up. “Fuck off.”

“What?” Logan steps into Leo’s space without really realizing, like being drawn toward a scrum on the ice.

“Don’t talk about her like that. She’s a person, not a piece of ass. And it’s not like you weren’t falling all over pink-dress-girl from the second we walked in.”

Logan stutters for a second, caught off guard that Leo even remembers the girl he’d been using to help him forget about Finn. “Yeah well, I struck out, didn’t I? You’ve still got a shot.”

Leo balls his fists against his forehead, letting out guttural groan loud enough to turn a few of the smokers’ heads.

“I don’t _want_ a shot.”

“What?”

“Christ Logan, I don’t want to hook up with Tamara. I mean, fuck, I just left her in there with a lame-ass apology to come and find _you_.”

“Why?” Logan swallows hard, a cold flutter settling into his gut.

Leo stares at him, exhaling hard through his nose. Maybe because Leo’s drunk, or maybe because after months Logan’s finally started being able to read him a little, but he thinks he sees sentence after sentence flit across his face and fall silently away.

“Fuck.” Leo takes a step back and pinches the bridge of his nose between his eyes. “Look, I don’t—I’m not—” Leo’s breathing hard, his chest rising and falling like each word scares the living hell out of him.

Logan’s not breathing at all. Leo stares into his eyes and he stares back, his mouth gone dry. He has no idea what he’s about to hear or even what he’s hoping for.

“Fuck, Logan—” That’s all Leo gets out. His name. So full of anguish and want Logan’s not sure he can take whatever comes next.

Gravel crunches behind them, and Logan jumps when a strong arm flops heavy across his shoulders.

“Why are you standing in rain?” Kuny asks, like it’s the most obvious question in the world. Like he hasn’t just barged right into Leo finally, _finally_ naming the wall standing between them. 

“Fucking hell Kuny,” Logan sputters. “We were—we _are_ —it’s not even raining!”

“Still wet,” he observes, clapping Logan once on the shoulder.

Logan shoves him off, “Damnit you big load, we were just—”

It starts as a quiet giggle, but when Logan turns to Leo his shoulders are shaking and he’s pinching his lips against a smile.

Kuny looks from him to Leo, eyebrows raised. “Is okay? I’m not understand."

Leo bursts into a full-on cackle at that, so loud it makes more of the people around the tables turn to stare at them. Concern spikes hot in Logan’s chest.

“Are you okay?” He grabs Leo by the shoulder. Could someone have slipped him something without him realizing?

But Leo nods, doubling over as he shakes with laughter.

“You—and then I, I was—but it’s all just so—” And he’s laughing so hard he can’t even get the words out, but Logan exhales with a grin.

God this whole night was so fucking stupid. Him trying to outrun Finn (which of course he couldn’t do) only to run smack _into_ Leo, and all the while if he’d have just stood fucking still for a second he wouldn’t have missed that these guys are maybe the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

The chuckle starts deep in his stomach, bubbling up through his chest until it’s rolling through him and he’s hanging onto Leo for dear life.

“What is funny?”

He and Leo fall harder into each other and a renewed fit of giggles as Kuny throws his hands up in surrender, Logan holding them both up as Leo sways on his feet.

“You’re both drunk off asses,” Kuny chuckles, rolling his eyes. “I’m call you cab.”

It takes them another minute to compose themselves after he walks back inside. Logan fights to catch his breath, wondering how long it’s been since he laughed that hard. His whole body’s light with it, like whatever weight he’s been carrying shucked off into the mist and breeze.

He wipes his eyes on his sleeve and gets Leo standing on his own again, smirking as Leo tries to get his last lingering giggles under control. _Cute_ is for sure the right word.

“Fucking hell,” Leo smiles, running a hand back over his head. His fingers brush the rough fabric of Logan’s hat and his eyes widen.

“Shit, sorry,” he says. “Do you want your hat back?”

Logan shakes his head without thinking.

“No.”

Leo blinks. “No?”

Heat creeps up Logan’s neck. He has no idea where that answer came from. The only thing he does know is that he likes Leo like this. Close and laughing and marked, in however imaginary and temporary a way, as his.

***

Leo isn’t sure what wakes him—his sour, churning stomach, his throbbing head, or the fact that he’s freezing. Groping around for the duvet he must have tossed off at some point during the night, he discovers two things at once: 1) He is in fact lying on top of his still-made covers, and 2) he is completely naked.

It’s the second realization that snaps his eyes open. He tries to scramble up off his stomach but his head spins in protest, sending him flopping face first back onto his pillow.

Except not just his pillow. Snatching at whatever stiff, plastic-y thing is digging into his face, he rolls over with a groan.

The thing turns out to be a Lions snapback, crumpled from a night spent squashed under him. He turns it over in his hands, trying to jog his pounding brain into working properly. This doesn’t look like his hat. Did he even wear a hat last night? A few more seconds tick by before he notices the little tag with the gold number ten staring back at him beside the snap band.

Holy mother of fuck.

The night comes back to him in flashes as he staggers out of bed, stumbling around for his plaid pajama bottoms and cursing as he catches his hip on his nightstand.

He remembers dancing. Dancing with Logan? But then Logan was gone. Did they have a fight? He kind of thinks so—he remembers yelling—but then they were laughing and he was falling into the back of a cab and—oh god. No. No no no.

He sat on Logan’s lap. He fell into the cab and onto Logan’s lap, but then they drove away and he didn’t move. He thinks he must have laid his head on Logan’s shoulder, because the only other thing he remembers is how good his hair smelled. Christ, and when did he end up with his hat?

His stomach roils and he sits down hard on his bed. Fuck, what else did he do last night? Did he try to kiss Logan? What else could he have told him? God, what if Logan never speaks to him again?

After a few deep breaths he hoists himself up and strides across to his door, jerking it open before he can change his mind, Logan’s hat hooked over his fingers.

His legs feel rubbery as he pads out into the living room, squinting against the bright sunlight streaming through the tall windows. He holds up a hand against the glare and winces. 

“Afternoon Sleeping Beauty.”

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Leo jumps, then immediately clutches a hand to his aching head.

Logan half falls out of the chair his lounged across as he shakes with laughter.

“Feeling good there bud?”

“Yeah, never better,” Leo says, flopping down onto the couch so that his face is half-smashed into one of the pillows.

“Ah, he is risen!”

Leo hears Finn pad in from the kitchen and set something down on the glass coffee table with a clink. Leo smells coffee. 

“How you doing rookie?” The couch dips as Finn sits down next to him and pats him on the leg.

“Ungh,” Leo groans into the pillow. At least if he stays like this he doesn’t have to give any real answers.

Finn snorts. “Yeah, I figured. Sounds like you guys had quite a night, if the texts I got from Kuny are to be believed.”

“You are so lucky we have an off day today,” Logan laughs.

Leo groans and turns his head to the side. Logan’s looking back at him, smirking. He’s still here, at least. Leo will count that as a win.

“What happened last night?” His voice feels hoarse and graveled, and he clears his throat.

Logan snorts. “You’ll have to be more specific there, Knut.”

He might as well get the worst one out of the way first.

“Well to start with, why was I naked this morning?”

There’s a second’s pause before Finn and Logan both burst out laughing.

“You were hot,” Finn chortles, shaking the couch next to him.

“ _What_?” Leo feels his face flush.

“That’s what you said, that it was too hot in here. Although to be fair, your shirt was already off when you came in.”

“Yeah, I tried to stop you from taking it off in the elevator,” Logan says, grinning. “But by the time we got to your floor I gave up. You’re strong when you’re drunk. Don’t worry, you didn’t take your pants off until we were inside.”

Oh god. Leo turns his face back down into the pillow. He's never drinking again.

Finn pats him on the leg again.

“S’not so bad, Knut. Here, I made some more coffee.”

Leo hears the scratch of china on glass as Finn scoots the mug closer. He sighs and sits up, rubbing a hand over his face.

“God, did June see me?” he asks, cradling the mug between his hands.

The room goes silent, and he just catches Logan and Finn looking at each other and then away.

“Ah, no,” Finn says, looking at his hands. “Your lucky night that she went back to her place.”

Leo bites his lip. Could he be more of an idiot today? “Oh, sorry. I just thought—”

Finn waves him off as he gets to his feet, not looking him in the eye. “Hey do you want some toast? Bread usually helps me with the hangover.”

“Sure, thanks.” Leo watches him all the way into the kitchen.

He and Logan sit with the sounds of Finn bustling around the kitchen until Leo can’t stand it anymore.

“Hey,” he says, because he can’t think of anything else. “Sorry about your hat.”

He tosses it over to Logan, who catches it and flips it over in his hands. He expects Logan to laugh it off, or maybe snark at him for smashing it, but when he just stares at the crumpled Lion’s logo in his hands, Leo’s stomach drops.

“Listen, about last night, I’m sorry if I—”

Logan shakes his head, cutting him off. “We’re good, okay?”

“Yeah?” Leo looks up from his coffee, not daring to believe it.

“Yeah.” Logan shoots him a small smile that Leo can’t quite read and tosses his hat back across to the couch. “You should hang onto that.”

Leo picks up the hat and runs his thumb across the snap band, his stomach unclenching for the first time since he woke up.

“You sure?”

Logan shrugs. “Yeah, I’ve got others." He turns his mug around in his hands, like he's deciding something, then meets Leo's eyes again. "Besides, it looks good on you.”


End file.
